1. The Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to personal audio systems and to the earphone or earphones utilized with such systems. More particularly, the invention pertains to an earphone designed for secure carriage on the ear of a user, even during vigorous activity thereby.
2. Background Art
Increasingly, individuals engaged in leisure and work activities are resorting during those activities to the use of audio systems which are carried on the person. These so-called personalized audio systems are capable of providing the user with entertainment, instructions, informational messages, or inter-personal radio communications.
Thus, persons engaged in rigorous activities such as tennis, jogging, racquet ball, skiing, boating, or cycling now frequently carry a source of audio signals, such as a tuner, a tape deck, or a compact disk player, and wear one or more earphones connected to that audio signal source. Naturally, individuals involved in less vigorous activity also benefit from such personalized audio systems when in engaged, for example, in study, vehicular driving, bus or train travel, or the playing of video or table games.
Personal audio systems also find utility in the work environment. There such systems can serve as sources of instruction or even of consoling entertainment. When utilized with a personal radio receiver, such systems can coordinate security precautions, crowd control activities, or maintenance efforts in large buildings, such as factories, schools, warehouses and skyscrapers, or on large land tracts, such as forests, amusement parks, and school campuses. Even the transcription of dictation generally utilizes at least one element of such a personalized audio system, namely the earphone.
The earphone portion of personalized audio systems has, however, not to date been thoughtfully designed, so as to completely fulfill the diverse needs of the individual user.
First, earphones currently in use with personal audio systems are unstable during vigorous physical activity. Sudden movements by the user can detach such earphones from the head, resulting in breakage or in dangerous distractions to the user. The weight, shape and manner of electrically interconnecting such earphones with a source of audio signals result in an earphone which is not stable on the ear or the head of its wearer.
Frequently, tension applied to the earphone by the audio lead with which it is coupled causes the earphone to be dislodged from the head of the user. Even the weight alone of such an audio lead tends to dislodge the audio speaker portion of such earphones from the ear. This is particularly the case where such audio speakers take the form of round relatively light-weight, so-called ear buds, which are merely inserted into the concha of the outer ear. Tension or weight from a audio lead coupled directly to an ear bud will severely destabilize the ear bud and contribute to its undesired dislodgement.
Some efforts toward improving earphone stability have been not only unsuccessful, but have proven to be counter productive by impairing the comfort of the user. Doing so overlooks the willingness of a user to wear the device as a functional design objective.
For example, to securely retain one or a pair of earphones on the head of a user, designers of personal audio systems have resorted to headbands or chin straps. Many such devices are resiliently biased to pinch the head of the user. The aim is to urge the audio speaker into the ear and hold the earphone on the head. Nevertheless, this type of pinching pressure can produce headaches and discomfort to the ear.
Some headbands eliminate such pressures but instead cause the weight of the earphones to rest on the top of the head of the user. This is not a stable arrangement in any activity of the user that is even slightly vigorous. In addition, headbands tend to displace the coiffure of the user or to interfere with the ability of the user to simultaneously wear a hat or a safety helmet.
Generally both headbands and chin straps are deemed unattractive, so that individuals who use them do so only with some reluctance.
The additional weight required for the construction of a headband or a chin strap is weight which will develop dislodging momentum, if the user is involved in vigorous physical activities. Therefore, the weight of the headband or chin strap itself contributes to earphone dislodgement.
Attempts have been to attach an audio speaker directly to the ear of the user, and avoid use of either headbands or chin straps. In one or another fashion, such earphones attempt to stabilize an audio speaker or an ear bud in the concha, but such earphones pinch the outer ear of the user or urge a structural element into the external opening to the auditory canal. The latter is obviously uncomfortable. With sufficient pinching, it may be possible to stably retain the audio speaker of an earphone on the ear of a user. Nevertheless, such pinching is likely to lead to discomfort and headache in a relatively short time.
In large part, earphones for use without headbands or chin straps are made of relatively hard, resilient materials which are not appropriate for use with the soft tissue of the ear. This only exacerbates the discomfort of the pinching action of such designs.
Some earphones which ride directly on the ear of a user are comprised of plural parts that cannot be made resistent to corrosion induced by the sweat of a wearer. These, therefore, are expensive to manufacture and predictably possessed of relatively short lives.
In the ultimate analysis, the earphones used with personal audio systems have prior to the present invention not addressed both the stability and comfort needs of users.